Among ordinary Estonians, Mr. Meri was a beloved, charismatic father-figure, whose dry humor and razor-sharp wit only added to his charm. Government officials, however, were often wary of him because of his scathing attacks on unethical practices and corrupt civil servants.
Internationally, he was a respected statesman who had close ties with several world leaders including former president Bill Clinton and the late Pope John Paul II.
Mr. Meri was widely praised for remaining tough with Russian President Boris Yeltsin in negotiations on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Estonia in 1994.
Born in Tallinn on March 29, 1929, Mr. Meri and his family were deported to Siberia after the Soviet invasion of Estonia during World War II, a fate shared by tens of thousands of people in Estonia and Baltic neighbors Latvia and Lithuania.
The family returned to Estonia, where Mr. Meri studied history at the University of Tartu, worked as a theater dramatist and, later, as a producer of radio plays and films.
Among his most well-known films is the 1977 documentary ''The Winds of the Milky Way," describing the lives of Finno-Ugric people, which won a silver medal at the New York Film Festival but was banned in the Soviet Union for its culturally sensitive content.
Mr. Meri was one of the leaders of the Baltic country's independence movement, known as the ''singing revolution."
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, thousands of Estonians protested against Soviet rule by massing at outdoor music festivals where they sang nationalistic songs. Mr. Meri often attended the festivals and urged the crowds to peacefully resist Moscow's rule.
In March 1990, the Soviet republic of Estonia officially declared it was on the path toward independence and held its first noncommunist elections, after which Mr. Meri was appointed foreign minister.
Following the failed Kremlin coup that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, Estonia declared independence in August 1991. Unlike its Baltic neighbors, Estonia escaped violence in its transition to freedom.
After a brief period as ambassador to Finland, Mr. Meri was elected president in October 1992 and was reelected in 1996.
He remained active in politics after stepping down, and attended the pope's funeral last year.
However, Mr. Meri's health started to deteriorate and in August 2005 he had surgery to remove a brain tumor.
